Activities like home gardening have drawn the attention of millennials and older generations alike for years, but with the quarantine, their popularity has grown exponentially. Caring for indoor plants not only enhances the mood and intimacy of your home, but also fills your space in ways that other interior decorating options cannot reproduce. Houseplants are so popular that sales are set to climb to $ 49.3 billion by 2023. Houseplant owners between the ages of 18 and 34 account for a quarter of this expenditure. Botanist, a gardening aid is designed to make caring for a plant easier for everyone. Sejin Park, originally from Seoul, designed the botanist because he recognized the millennial generation’s love for houseplant culture and their preferred mode of communication: technology.
Millennials seem to take some heat away from older generations because we talk on the phone so often and therefore disconnect from the world. To understand this tension, Park bridged a connection between the natural and the mobile world. The botanist consists of three parts: touch screen, connector and probe stick. The probe rod scans and analyzes the soil of your houseplant to communicate what the plant may need. This will be shown on the botanist’s screen. The user is informed about the soil, the pH value, the light, the temperature and the humidity of the indoor plants via a loudspeaker and a touchscreen on easily readable, circular measuring devices. The touch screen then provides additional information indicating how the user can maintain or address the health level of the plant. The information collected by the probe stick can be transferred to the touchscreen via the connection. On the touch screen, Botanist users can also put their houseplants down for easy location and maintenance.
The device pairs with your phone so you can get the latest information on your houseplant no matter how far from home you are. Taking inspiration from devices such as speakers, reusable water bottles, and other sustainable products, Park was sure to design this tool so that its purpose of maintaining health and plant life reflected not only the source of its materials, but also its structure and looks They do well in your house plants. Your plants practically take care of themselves.
Designer: Sejin Park
